Hi, everyone. I’m so sorry to have to do this – I was so eager to meet Canadian readers, and so happy to be invited – but I’m afraid that I will not be able to attend Ad Astra this upcoming weekend. I have chickenpox. I know, right? I want to facepalm myself into oblivion just typing it. I’m twenty-nine. TWENTY-NINE. And I currently look like Patient Zero. Chickenpox is the current working theory – I went to my doctor on Wednesday upon noticing a few spots (and thinking, “Oh crap, I have a convention coming up, C’MOOON PRESCRIPTIONS”) and was given steroids because neither of us had any idea what it was, which I honestly think made it worse. I ended up having to go to the emergency room on Friday, where I was...

First of all, I want to thank everyone who weighed in on the initial post. It really helped me get a better handle on what it is I want to do. You guys are awesome! So, for the uninitiated: I’ve been getting questions about the availability of paper swag for a while, now, ranging from requests for bookmarks and postcards to questions about how readers can get my signature on their books (the answer is, of course, a bookplate!). Unfortunately, I am not Scrooge McDuck (holler, 90s kids), so I can’t produce and send these things off the way I’d like to, which would be liberally, at no cost to readers. After reading your comments and discussing the matter with friends, I’ve come up with the following compromise: 1. SASE. In the next...

Hi guys! Now that the madness of editing has passed (for now), I have time to sit down and address some promotional issues. One thing that keeps popping up is the availability of bookmarks, signed postcards, bookplates (basically, my signature shipped straight to you!), and other paper swag. Now, I would absolutely love to be able to send out swag willy-nilly. I think it would be great fun. I love getting things in the mail (I love the old-fashioned nature of mail, period) – it comes from being somewhat reclusive, and from spending parts of my childhood in semi-remote areas. I just love the thrill of finding something special in the mailbox. And I love sending people little presents. So what’s the issue? Why am I not doing this as we speak? The issue...

Last Updated: January 5th, 2012 I’m working on my appearance schedule for this year (yay!), and this is what I have so far. Anything that’s marked with an asterisk is confirmed – no asterisk, then I’m still feeling things out or waiting for news about logistics. Conventions marked with “guest” mean I’ve been specifically invited as someone who writes stuff; conventions marked with “attendee” mean that I will be running around like I normally do, without a businesslike bone in my body. (Either that or I don’t know if the convention in question has any use for me professionally, yet!) Ad Astra, Toronto, Canada – April 13-15th (Guest) (Couldn’t make it due to illness. So unfortunate!)...

I’m not going to link to the Justin Bieber “steampunk” music video, mainly because I’m too busy and lazy to look it up. But I’ve seen people gnashing their teeth about it and declaring steampunk “dead,” “critically injured,” etc. (At which point I open my mouth to make a snarky comment about zombies and how they manage to get around just fine, only to end up shutting it again.) But I’ve decided that I’d actually like to say something about it. This is rare. I usually don’t post my opinions online. When it comes to those ready to attend steampunk’s funeral, I think it’s fair to say that they’re not merely reacting to Bieber’s use of stylistic elements from the subgenre....

…I’m a professional clothes wrangler. I love my Victorian-inspired clothes. I adore them. Thing is, they can be tricky to store. I’ve got several trunks in my room, all sorts of plastic containers, little hatboxes – it never seems to be enough. Never mind the fact that I can be a bit of a slob, tossing things down and forgetting about them for ages. Now that I’m wearing ever more Victorian dresses, I need to come up with efficient ways to care for and store more of them. So I decided to whip up a quick organizer for at least some of my hair accessories, to start with. (Help! We’re being smushed!) I decided I wanted to get the fascinators out of the trunk and put the headbands in there. I had an old picture frame...